Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Joe Malenko (PWFG, 6/1/93)

Duh, this was great. No striking, very few throws or takedowns, but tons of excellent matwork -- in particular, the opening scramble was really good, with Joe Malenko showing off his responsiveness to the wily Yoshiaki Fujiwara, maintaining control of the leg even as Fujiwara is trying to roll out. The build to the Fujiwara armbar was done well, with Fujiwara scooting down to the mat in various attempts. But in classic Fujiwara fashion, he takes a moment to boredly rest his chin on his hand while he's trying to snag an armbar. I really liked how he used the knee on Malenko's chin to escape his control. Sure, there were lulls in the action but the attention to detail, the slick counters and reversals, and the tension built through submission attempts create a technically sweet mat-based encounter. In the end, Fujiwara's able to secure his patented armbar for the win.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Wayne Shamrock (PWFG, 9/28/91)

Whereas Kenny Wayne Shamrock's match with Masakatsu Funaki from the month prior was hampered by dull matwork, this had a little more excitement on the ground thanks to Minoru Suzuki's speed. His quick counterwork and reversals made for much more compelling submission wrestling. You got the sense that they really had to fight for everything here. They each, more or less, went after each others' legs with Suzuki getting the upper hand on Shamrock. When Shamrock starts clobbering on Suzuki, Suzuki gets him in the rear waistlock, and in order to hit the German suplex, he has to deliver this awesome little combo of strikes to break Shamrock's defense. The finish was awesome, with Suzuki struggling to break out of the rear waistlock by grabbing the arm, and just when you think he's got it, Shamrock puts him in the full nelson and dragon suplexes him for the KO. The fact that Shamrock was using the dragon suplex to knockout his opponents in 1991 is incredible. Really cool match.

PWFG "One For All And All For One" (7/26/91)

Mark Rush vs. Kazuo Takahashi

If you like mat wrangling, then this is the match for you. Mark Rush is a burly individual with an amateur background and for over ten minutes, he and Kazuo Takahashi jockey for leverage on the ground, with Rush using his size to his advantage. Takahashi's focus is the arm and the struggle for armbar is a reoccurring and often compelling theme of the match. There's a couple of slams throughout but this mostly takes place on the ground, and finishes on the ground, as Mark hits a powerslam and taps Takahashi with a nice snug side headlock.

Wayne Shamrock vs. Duane Koslowski 

Duane Koslowski is about as Wonder Bread as they come, looking like 1990's Steve Rogers come to life. Wayne is Kenneth is Ken, and he brings a lot of aggression to this match, which I'm okay with. He tries to keep his distance with strikes while Duane looks to sneak in for a suplex. After taking a couple of shots to the head, Duane finally hits an All-American belly-to-belly suplex and tries for a double wristlock on the mat. He's able to bridge out of a choke and they get into a little spat of open hands before Duane belly-to-bellies him once again. At one point, Duane gives Shammy a love tap slap across the face and boy, does Wayne not like it. He soon finishes him off with the Shamrock Special #2 aka the Northern Lights suplex into the leglock. I want to see more Duane Koslowski.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Naoki Sano

SPOILER ALERT: This is a 30:00 minute time limit draw. However, it's one of the best time limit draws I've seen and the pace these two work throughout is incredible. Right from the get-go, they scramble around with the crowd buzzing, trying to get something locked in long enough without getting thrown off. Suzuki keeps going for the armbar but Sano isn't give him an inch. He'll slap at Sano's thigh, trying to break open the armbar, but no dice. I loved Suzuki's slap to the face>fireman's carry takeover into the armbar attempt, and when he tries for the double arm suplex and Sano resists it, he piledrives him instead. The stand-up striking feels very heated at times, and some of the open hands and palms exchanged look/sound real nasty. Exhaustion begins to rear its ugly head about 15-20 minutes in but Suzuki is dead set on getting the armbar. He hits a German suplex on Sano, but Sano is able to snag an arm off the bridge. At one point, Sano has Suzuki in a rear naked choke and Suzuki is slapping himself to stay coherent, it's great. Finally, Suzuki says "enough with the armbar" and grabs a single leg crab, but he can't maintain it and the time limit expires with them fighting over a leglock. High recommendation for this one.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Masakatsu Funaki

This wasn't great but it wasn't bad. It was SOLID. They work the mat to start, mostly fighting over leglocks, before Funaki starts in with the smacks and kicks, knocking Fujiwara on his ass. He comes at him with a big flurry of kicks and while Fujiwara's able to a catch a leg, he can't follow up with the leg trip and Funaki ends up taking him back down to the mat. One of the best moments of the match comes when Fujiwara's trying to get a hold of Funaki's leg while he's on the ground and Funaki pops him in the face with a defensive shin, once again dropping Funaki on his ass. Funaki doesn't let up, catching him with a hard slap in the face against the ropes and a kick to the face for another knock down. Then he unloads a barrage of body shots, open hands, kicks, but Fujiwara's a resilient and wily old fuck and won't fall. So when Funaki goes for the double leg takedown, Fujiwara snags his arm with his leg for the submission victory. Of course, Fujiwara pulls it out in the end.

Naoki Sano vs. Wayne Shamrock (PWFG, 5/19/91)

When Wayne Kenneth Shamrock was wrestling in WWF as the “Most Dangerous Man”, I wasn’t watching. My only exposure to him prior to this was in Pancrase and UFC. That being said, this has to be one of Shamrock’s first matches wrestling the shoot-style and what I enjoy about Shamrock is how exciting he makes the groundwork look as he slides around the mat and snaps off takedowns. Shamrock, along with Minoru Suzuki, both here and in Pancrase, are really good at incorporating a strong quickness to overwhelm their opponents. Naoki, on the other hand, doesn’t do a whole lot on the ground – in fact, it’s more or less him grabbing an arm or a leg and holding it there. This is noticeably evident late in the match when he has control of Shamrock’s leg and doesn’t do shit with it.

After picking ankles and trying to roll through into armbars or kneebars, they take the fight to a vertical base and start swatting at each other with open hands. Sano spikes Shamrock with a shoot DDT and Shamrock pops those hips with a beautiful takedown on Sano. The struggle conveyed, whether they’re on their feet with heated open hand exchanges, or on the ground fighting for a hold, was really well done.  While some of the matwork wasn’t all that captivating, when it was on, it was on. I really liked Shamrock using the headscissors to try and get control of Sano’s arm. At times, his striking looks watered down, especially the knees and elbows, but he has some of the best takedowns here, including that awesome German suplex transition off the mat. The finish was brutal, with Shamrock catching him hard with a slap and a knee, and then Sano promptly destroying him with a dragon suplex to set-up the wakigatame submission.

Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Sho Funaki (PWFG, 5/19/95)

Sho Funaki working in a shoot-style environment is just about as awkward as you’d expect it to be. While he’s not quite the striker, he does manage some decent takedowns and works the mat well enough. But he’s mostly a punching bag for Ikeda and Usuda here, which is fine, too. Usuda snaps off kicks and throws out some nasty open hands, while Ikeda’s a little more gritty with his stomps and kidney punches. Poor Funaki gets dumped with a German suplex and that’s the last we see of him before Ikeda and Ishikawa shut it down like you’d expect. Plenty of snug shots and grunty matwork, with Ikeda wrenching at his face and choking him out for the win. Fun tag.

Minoru Tanaka vs. TAKA Michinoku (PWFG, 5/19/95)

Holy shit, this rules. It’s liquid hot magma right out of the gate as Minoru immediately starts slapping at TAKA, and then they scramble fiercely around the mat, fighting over a leglock, getting pissy in front mounts with their strikes, including some well-placed palm thrusts from Minoru. Minoru delivers an awesome shoot package Gotch-style piledriver…I don’t even know how else to describe it (see above)…then transitions into the single leg. He may be without his glorious locks here but Minoru’s still swanky as fuck, with his smooth leg trap counter into the kneebar. He’s either taking TAKA to the bottom rope or he’s stuffing him with kicks.  They trade suplexes (love TAKA’s snap belly-to-belly) but when TAKA tries for the German, Minoru answers with the wakigatame takedown and when that doesn’t do the trick, he just stomps TAKA in the back of the head. He tries to finish off TAKA with a high kick but TAKA’s able to counter into the single leg and crank it back to submit Minoru. Love this match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. TAKA Michinoku (PWFG, 8/26/95)

Yoshiaki Fujiwara, as awesome as he is, doesn’t have time for TAKA Michinoku’s shit. Who does? But Fujiwara especially. No matter what TAKA tries on the mat, Fujiwara finds a way of countering and schooling TAKA in the art of old man grappling. When he’s not forcing TAKA to the ropes with a leglock, he’s smacking or headbutting him, naturally. At one point, TAKA sends him headfirst into the corner, but of course, Fujiwara no sells it to re-adjust his socks because his head is notoriously unbreakable. But bless TAKA, he keeps trying. When he attempts to boot out of a hold, Fujiwara snags the boot and screws the ankle, and when he’s had enough, Fujiwara cranks him into submission and doesn’t let go. What a crabapple.